Celebration Arts

Thank you to everyone who joined us last week to celebrate the centennial of Jazz legend and innovator Miles Davis 🎺 We so appreciate the Quartet, , and .enid for bringing their powerful and electrifying performances to the Celebration Arts stage! And a BIG shoutout to our board chair Adonai Mack for leading a wonderful pre-show discussion on Davis’ legacy with Marcus Shelby and Harley White Jr. ⭐️

Keep an eye out for the next installment of our Jazz Series in October — A Tribute to John Coltrane 🎷

TOMORROW, SUNDAY, MAY 24th: We’re celebrating MILES DAVIS @ 100 🎺 — with The Marcus Shelby Quartet and Harley White Jr. w/ The Lab Rats! 🥁🎹

🕐1:00 PM • Pre-Show Talk with the musicians, hosted by Celebration Arts’ Board Chair, Adonai Mack

🕐2:00 PM • Performance featuring The Marcus Shelby Quartet and Harley White Jr. w/ The Lab Rats (SOLD OUT)

🕐7:00 PM • Evening performance featuring The Marcus Shelby Quartet (ONLY 10 TICKETS LEFT‼️)

The Marcus Shelby Quartet — Marcus Shelby (bass), Christopher Lowell Clarke (trumpet), Greg Jacobs (piano), and Jaimeo Brown (drums) — will pay homage to Miles by performing repertoire from his 1950s-1960s catalog, and add commentary, stories, text, and reflection to one of the most creative and iconic geniuses of the 20th Century.

Harley White Jr. (bass) and The Lab Rats — Joe Archie Jr. (trumpet & keys), Miggy Recendez (trombone & keys), Zack Martin (guitar), and Jacob Swedlow (drums) — will pay homage to Miles by performing repertoire from his revolutionary electric period of the late 1960s through 1970s.

✨ALSO 📻

TONIGHT, May 23rd at 8:30 PM: Listen to EXCELLENCE IN JAZZ on 88.9 FM to hear a wonderful interview with our guest, Marcus Shelby.

See you all there!

This is going to be fuuuuun 👀✨

We are elated to share with you all the incredible cast of DON’T TOUCH MY HAIR 🙌🏾

When Eemani’s job interview takes a demoralizing turn, she comes home ready to decompress, and her bestie Jade has just the remedy — until one smoke-filled moment sends them on a journey nobody saw coming! An ordinary evening becomes an extraordinary leap as they find themselves transported to the past for a raucous and wild adventure! Armed with laughter, power, and loyalty, the two friends must find their way home, and remember who they are.

STARRING:





Taylor Jordan
Dimitrious Champlaie

Keep your eyes out for more on our phenomenal Director , and the brilliant , who will join us from New York on Opening Night, Friday, June 12th! ✨

Tickets available at celebrationarts.net or at the link in our bio 🔗

UP NEXT 🎭
DON’T TOUCH MY HAIR by Douglas Lyons 🤩
Directed by Danielle Moné Truitt

🗓️ June 12 - 28, 2026

Don’t Touch My Hair is the second play in Emmy-nominated playwright Douglas Lyon’s “Deep Breath Trilogy.” It follows our 2025 Season runaway hit, Chicken and Biscuits, and precedes the third play, Table 17, slated for 2027. Celebration Arts is proud to have the Northern California premiere of this trilogy that centers and celebrates Black women healing and thriving!

Stay tuned to learn more about the playwright, director, and our stellar cast!

🎟️ Grab your tickets through the 🔗 in our bio - they’ll be going fast!

Multigenerational exchange is what it’s alllll about at CA! 🎭🫶🏾

We want to give a BIG shoutout and THANK YOU to everyone who chose to support the enduring legacy of Celebration Arts this past Big Day of Giving! In these times, we know that our community’s financial support is deeply intentional, and we are so grateful for your willingness to contribute towards a necessary financial boost towards the Premier Black Theater of Sacramento for the past FORTY years! 🎂

We also had a blast at our BDOG 40th Birthday Bash, and want to extend our thanks to our phenomenal staff for all of their passionate work, singer Carla Fleming and musician Joe Archie for their stellar performances, (pictured above) and for holding down the mic and the tunes, Dr. Halifu Osumare (pictured above) for her extensive contributions to the theater, and to everyone who stopped by to make the day special.

Make sure to be on a look out for the continued celebrations of our 40TH YEAR and season: HOMECOMING 💛

Image credit: our wonderful live-streamer of the day, KP Streaming 🌟

We’re about to hit $10,000 of our $40,000 goal!!! We are so grateful to every single person who has supported us both today and over the past 40 years ❤️

Every dollar donated helps us continue to put on culturally relevant programming like the featured CA shows above, and give local actors/arts workers the opportunities, support, and resources they deserve.

We can’t do it without you - please share our donation link (in our bio) with anyone you know who agrees: BLACK THEATER MATTERS 🙌🏾🌟

https://www.bigdayofgiving.org/organization/celebrationarts

Support the Theater Arts on this Big Day of Giving ❤️🌟

Will you help SARTA reach our goal of 49 unique donors? Donations start at just $10!

And if you've already supported SARTA, consider checking out the campaigns of some of our member theatres, like Celebration Arts, or new theatres like Spectrum Stage, a recipient of one of our microgrants? Spread the love today and !